[Nfbwv-talk] About Our National Rep, James Gashel

[Smyth, Charlene R]

As all of you know, James Gashel is to be our national representative at our upcoming state convention.  For those of you who do not know him or may have forgotten all he has accomplished and what he has done for our organization, please read the following information:

James R. Gashel, Secretary
Advocate, Ambassador, Executive
Jim Gashel
Jim Gashel was born in 1946 and grew up in Iowa. After his early introduction to
the National Federation of the Blind as Kenneth Jernigan's student at the Iowa Commission
for the Blind during the 1960s, he has been devoted to serving the blind community
in various capacities. A 1969 graduate of the University of Northern Iowa with work
toward a master's degree in Public Administration at the University of Iowa, Jim
started his career teaching speech and English for one year in Pipestone, Minnesota.
He then accepted a position as assistant director at the Iowa Commission for the
Blind in Des Moines. With that move he found his calling is working with the blind
and finding ways of solving the problems that face them as individuals and as a minority.
On January 1, 1974, Jim joined the staff of the National Federation of the Blind
as chief of the Washington office, where he became one of the best known advocates
for the blind of the United States, combining his commitment to blind people with
his interest in the political process. As the Federation's scope and influence evolved,
so did his roles and responsibilities. In his professional career of almost thirty-four
years with the Federation, he held the positions of chief of the Washington office,
director of governmental affairs, and executive director for strategic initiatives.
Jim's Federation work has led to significant changes in virtually every law directly
affecting blind Americans: the Social Security Act, the Rehabilitation Act, the Randolph-Sheppard
Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Copyright Act, the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act, and the Help America Vote Act. In addition to championing
these causes, Jim has won the love and respect of the thousands of blind men and
women across America who have directly benefited from his informed and effective
personal advocacy. No matter what his position, through his drive and devotion to
Federationism, Jim has earned the informal title of the organization's non-lawyer
lawyer.
With his first wife Arlene, Jim is the father of three adult children and the grandfather
of six. His daughter Andrea Beasley has four children, and his son Eric and his daughter
Valerie each have two children.
During Jim's service at the NFB, he received the Commissioner's Award for Outstanding
Leadership in Rehabilitation Services to the Disabled, the highest honor presented
by the commissioner of the United States Rehabilitation Services Administration.
He is also a recipient of the secretary of labor's Outstanding American Award. In
2001 Jim and his second wife, Dr. Betsy Zaborowski, jointly received the NFB's highest
honor, the Jacobus tenBroek Award, honoring them for their achievements through decades
of leadership in work with the blind.
In November, 2007, Jim and Betsy moved from Baltimore to Denver, Colorado, but Betsy
soon died after a recurrence of the condition-retinal blastoma-which had caused her
blindness from childhood. In September, 2012, Jim married Susan Kern, now Susan Gashel.
Their marriage occurred a few months after Susan had returned from Colorado after
retiring as an assistant attorney general in the state of Hawaii. Beyond continuing
Jim's active work on behalf of the blind through involvement in the Federation, and
Susan's work to uphold the rights and promote opportunities for blind Randolph-Sheppard
vendors, Jim and Susan are passionate about downhill skiing and all the Rocky Mountains
have to offer near where they live in the Vail valley of Colorado.
Beyond his volunteer activities, Jim serves as vice president of business development
at K-NFB Reading Technology, Inc., formed in 2005 as a joint venture of Kurzweil
Technologies and the National Federation of the Blind. While serving as the Federation's
executive director for strategic initiatives, he led the public introduction and
launch of the Kurzweil-National Federation of the Blind Reader, the world's first
truly portable text-to-speech reading device for the blind. As part of this effort
he raised and administered the funds necessary to support pre-release beta testing,
product announcement, and public promotional efforts to bring the product to market
in 2006. Jim's employment with K-NFB Reading Technology, Inc., brings him full circle
in his career since, after first meeting Ray Kurzweil in April 1975, he also organized
and raised the funds necessary to test and launch the original Kurzweil Reading Machine,
released in 1977 as the world's first text-to-speech reading system for the blind.
Jim was elected to the NFB's national board of directors in 2008 to fill an unexpired
term and was reelected in 2009. Then he was subsequently elected to the position
of national secretary, a position he has held since 2010. Serving in each of these
capacities, he brings to the board both expertise and contacts in the blindness field
and an abiding commitment to the work of the NFB. In accepting his 2001 Jacobus tenBroek
Award, Jim offered comments that remain relevant today and reflect his approach to
our mission. "All I would ask is that all of you remember that it's all of our responsibilities
to go out and work for the movement. We can't all go out and climb a mountain like
Erik [Weihenmayer] did, and we can't all do the wonderful things that every one of
you do all the time, or raise five or six million dollars like Betsy did, but we
can all work for this movement. We all have a place in it." Jim's place is absolutely
unique.